The Swiss Stock Market Pulled Back On Nestle Weakness

(RTTNews) - The Swiss stock market ended Thursday's session with a slight decline. The market got off to a weak start, but climbed into positive territory around midday and nearly reached the 8,000 point level. However, the weak opening of the U.S. market triggered further weakness in late trade.

The U.S. markets opened lower Thursday, after the gains of the last few sessions. First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased in the week ended February 13th, but the leading economic index edged down by 0.2 percent in January.

The Swiss Market Index decreased 0.37 percent Thursday and finished at 7,916.61. The Swiss Leader Index finished unchanged and the Swiss Performance Index fell 0.17 percent.

Shares of Transocean dropped 6.1 percent. Energy stocks retreated after the U.S. crude inventory report.

Nestle decreased 3.7 percent. The food giant forecast softer pricing and growth in 2016 after reporting the smallest annual sales gain in six years.

The luxury goods companies were under pressure, after Swiss watch exports fell sharply in January. Swatch declined 1.6 percent and Richemont surrendered 1.2 percent.

The big banks also turned in a weak performance Thursday. UBS weakened by 1.8 percent and Credit Suisse fell 1.6 percent.

The two pharmaceutical heavyweights provided some support to the market. Roche climbed 2.1 percent and Novartis gained 1.0 percent.

Swiss Re rose 1.7 percent, after Deutsche Bank rated the stock a "Buy."

Adecco gained 4.1 percent, adding to the gains of the previous session. Today's rise was fueled by solid results from competitor Randstad.